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‘It’s been a learning curve’ – McMillan

Bristol hooker Ross McMillan says despite their tough start to the Premiership season it has been a learning curve for his side.

The Ashton Gate outfit were promoted back to the top flight last season after a seven-year absence, but have picked up just a solitary point from the first five fixtures of the new campaign.

Their latest defeat came on Friday as Saracens crossed the whitewash five times with no response to seal a 39-0 victory, as Bristol fell to their fifth consecutive loss.

But for McMillan, who joined Andy Robinson’s side in January 2015, positives can be taken from their journey so far, insisting the team are relishing the learning opportunities every game brings.

"We’ve been on a bit of a learning curve, a bit of a steep one as far as the teams we’ve played are concerned," McMillan told the Premiership website.

"When we got the fixture list through, we were aware of the fight we faced over the first five weeks.

"I think it’s just been a case of learning from mistakes, but also learning from what we’ve been doing well.

"We didn’t get the result we wanted to against Saracens, but at the same time, parts of our game are coming on, we are putting teams under pressure and not letting them do what they think they are going to be able to do against a side who have just been promoted.

"We’ve already played against sides who are potentially going to be in that top five challenging for honours at the top of the table come the end of the season, and it’s been almost a humbling experience as far as how sides have shown us how to play Premiership rugby.

"Scoring the tries that we have and starving teams of possession like we have has shown that we can play good rugby at this level, and that’s allowed us to move forward into this next block of games with a lot of positivity."